Fusion Spotlight: Gabby Cox – From intern to Fusion PR superstar

Fusion Spotlight: Gabby Cox – From intern to Fusion PR superstar

Gabby’s dreams recently came true when she met her idol, Andy Cohen (host of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live) on a whim on her 24th birthday.

We all know about Gabby’s ability to wear an ugly sweater with attitude and her passion for Bravo TV shows, but I was able to dive deeper and find out about Gabby’s journey at Fusion starting as an intern, to becoming a major asset to the Los Angeles team. Read on to learn about Gabby’s PR pet peeves, her advice for interns, and most importantly, her Real Housewives’ tagline:

Annie: What made you decide to venture into PR?

Gabby: My road to PR is a bit random. It’s not something I went to school for, or thought I would ever pursue, mainly because I didn’t know what it was exactly. The term “PR” gets thrown around so often (especially living here in LA) — my idea of a successful PR pro was a mix between Samantha Jones, Kelly Cutrone, and that guy from “Thank You for Not Smoking.”

While at UCLA, I was a pre-law student, but during my senior year, I was anxious to explore other options before taking the plunge into law school. My goal was to obtain an internship in a field I had always been curious about, so I spent some time on the UCLA job board and came across a listing from Fusion. The requirements for the PR internship were that I be a good communicator, interested in technology, and enthusiastic to learn. I went into the interview being very honest about my lack of direct experience in PR, but I was confident that I had the right skills to excel. Since then, I’ve come to realize that PR allows me to exercise many of my hobbies in my every day work (creative writing, working with social media, etc.). I think it’s a great fit, and I’ve never looked back. 🙂

Annie: What are your PR pet peeves?

Gabby: My biggest one is the stigma [of constantly having to proving oneself] that all PR reps have to overcome, which Victoria shared some insight into during her Fusion Spotlight a few weeks ago. One random thing that I find annoying is that I can’t watch TV or read anything in the news without thinking of the PR work that went behind it to secure the feature. Or in some cases, I think “that company’s crisis communications team is going to have a hell of a week…” I just can’t help but see things from the PR point of view, which isn’t a pet peeve per se, but more of a weird quirk that I’m sure others can relate to.

Annie: What’s your favorite part about working at Fusion?

Gabby: My favorite thing about Fusion is the way we work as a team, and the sense of camaraderie was one of the first things I noticed about Fusion. By having each others’ backs and keeping the lines of communication wide open as a team, we can ensure quality work delivered in an efficient manner. Also, it doesn’t hurt that everyone I work with is awesome in general.

Annie: What advice would you give PR interns that are in it for the long run?

Gabby: Three things:

1. Confirm that you have the time to commit to an internship. This sounds really obvious, but I think it’s still worth noting. You don’t want to have so many school or personal commitments that you can’t focus on the job. It’ll limit you.

2. Make yourself indispensable. When I was interning at Fusion, this was my main goal. I wanted to make absolute sure that I fit into the everyday workflow routines. I volunteered to do the time-consuming part of the jobs (i.e. lengthy reports, media lists, heavy research) to try to show how much value I brought to the team.

3. Be willing to try new tasks, especially if they intimidate you. It’s the only way to grow. It was daunting when I was assigned to write my first press release — not because I was uncomfortable with my writing, but simply because it was unknown territory to me. With every assignment, I grow more and more comfortable with my writing “voice.” It just takes practice.

Annie: If you were one of the Real Housewives on Bravo, what would your tagline be?

Gabby: This is SO tough! And I’d be lying if I said I’ve never thought about it before. Probably something cheesy like “I know how to work hard and play hard.” The segment would be me in a meeting, and then cut to me on a girls’ night out… Don’t laugh.